Brushes



March 14, 1961 D. c. ROTH E'AL BRUSHES Filed Sept; 11, 1956 United States Patent Ofiice BRUSHES David C. Roth, 403 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville, Md., and Karl H. Florenz, Mount Wilson, Md.

Filed Sept. 11, 1956, Ser. No. 609,236

2 Claims. (Cl. 15-160) This invention relates generally to improvements in brushes, and more particularly it pertains to a novel arrangement of the bristle tufts thereon.

One object of this inventionis to provide an unique brush, the bristle tufts of which tend to alternately gouge or lift the material being brushed and, at the same time, to sweep the material being brushed.

Another object of this invention is to provide a brush, the bristle tufts of which tend to alternately gouge or sweep the material being brushed and to perform these actions irrespective of the direction the brush is being moved.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a brush, the bristle tufts of which readily adapt themselves to irregular surfaces and which perform brushing action with a minimum amount of pressure, thus lengthening the life of the bristles.

And another object of this invention is to provide a brush, the bristle tufts of which are arranged at an acute angle to the body of the brush irrespective of the shape and/ or contour of the surface of the brush.

Still even another object of this invention is to provide a modified form of the brush in which the bristles are mounted as mentioned above and which can be used effectively for cleaning cables or similar members,.such as tubing. 1

To provide brush arrangements which are economical to manufacture, and efficient and reliable in operation, are other objects of this invention.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become more apparent from the following specification and single sheet of drawing in which:

Fig. l is a bottom plan of one embodiment of the Fig. 4. 7

Referring now to Figs. l, 2, and '3 of the drawing, there is illustrated one. embodimentv of thebrush 10 comprising this invention. The brush 10 consists of a rectangular shaped body forming a base 13 for mounting a plurality of rows 14,15, 16, and 17 of bristle tufts 4 thereon. A row of bristle tufts 14, 15, 16, and 17 is constituted by a plurality of tufts 4 lying along a line parallel to the lineof the transverse axis of the base 13. Also, it is to be noted that rows 14, 15, 16, and 17 of bristle tufts 4 can be repeated any number of times, depending upon the Width of the brush 10 desired. It is to be noted that the body of the brush forming the base 13 can be of other shapes, such as oval, square, triangular, or the like, and that the rows 14, 15, 16 and onal axes AA' and B.B'.

Patented Mar. 14, 1961 17 of bristle tufts 4 can be arranged thereon as described herein.

Each row 14, 15, 16 or 17 of bristle tufts 4 consists of several bristle tufts, preferably three or more as shown.

As best seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the bristle tufts 4 are set in apertures 6 in the body 13 of the brush 10 at acute angles to planes perpendicular to the base plane, i.e., the

plane of the base 13, said planes being parallel to perpendicular planes passing through both the longitudinal and transverse axes of the body of the brush, with these angles being so selected that the bristle tufts 4 will cross each otherat substantially the ends thereof.

The acute angle of the bristle tufts 4 and the length of the bristle tufts are so selected so that these tufts 4 will cross each other substantially at or near the ends of the bristle tufts 4. The bristle tufts 4 are arranged at an angle which is acute to planes perpendicular'to the base plane, with said planes parallel to perpendicular planes passing through both the longitudinal aswell as the transverse axes of the body 13 of the brush 10 so that when the brush is operated or moved on a-surface, such as a floor, in the direction of one of these axes, it will cause the rows of bristle tufts 4, pointing'in the direction of movement along the axis, to gouge or lift the material being brushed; while the adjacent rows of bristle tufts 4, pointing in the direction opposite to movement of the brush along the axis, will sweep the material being brushed.

As seen best in Fig. l,'the b'ristle tufts 4-are also arranged on the body .13 of the brush 10 so that they are contiguous with perpendicular planes parallel to'a perpendicular plane passing through one of the diagonal axes of the base plane of the base 13; while the same row 14 of the bristle tufts 4 is at an acute angleto'perpendicular planes parallel to a perpendicular plane pass- Examination of Figil of the drawing will show that the planes of contiguity of row 14 and row 15 of the bristle tufts 4 are parallel to a perpendicular plane pass. ing through the diagonal axis A-A'.' The bristle tufts 4 in row 14 point in the direction of the intersection of the diagonal axes AA" and B--B, while the bristle tufts 4 in row 15 point away from the direction of 'the' intersection of the diagonal axes A-A and B- B Further examination of Fig. 1 of the drawing, will show that the bristle tufts 4 in row 16 and 'row;17 have planes of contiguity parallel to a perpendicular plane passing through diagonal axis B-B; and the bristle-tufts 4 in row 16 and row 17 are at an acute angle to perpendicular planes parallel to a perpendicularplane passing through the diagonal axis A'-A'. The bristle tufts 4 in row 16 point in the direction-of the intersectionof the diagonal axes AA and B -B, and the bristletufts 4 in row 17pointaway from the intersection of the diag The next four rows of bristle tufts 4, and succeeding rows of four bristle tufts are arranged in a similar manner. Thus, it can be readily seen that each two rows of bristle tufts 4 are alternately continguous to or at an acute angle to per pendicular planes parallel to perpendicular planes pass-' ing through either of the two diagonal axes of the body 13 of the brush 10.

Row 14 and row 16 of the bristle tufts 4 could be arranged contiguous to perpendicular planes parallel to a perpendicular plane passing through one of the diagonal axes of the base plane, and row 15 and row 17 of the bristle tufts 4 could also be contiguous to perpendicular planes parallel to a perpendicular plane passing through the opposite diagonal axis of the base plane. Thus, every other row of bristle tufts 4 would be alternately contiguous to or at an acute angle to perpendicular planes passing through either of the two diagonal axes of the base plane of the body 13 of the brush 19.

Referring again to Fig. l of the drawing, it is to be noted, for example, that if the brush is moved along a line parallel to the diagonal axis A-A and in the direction of A, bristle tufts 4 in row will gouge or lift the material being brushed while bristle tufts 4 in row 14 will sweep or push down the material being brushed. 'If the brush 10 is moved along this line in the direction of A, the bristle tufts 4 in row 14 will gouge or lift the material being brushed and the bristle tufts 4 in row 15 will sweep or push down the material being brushed. If the brush 10 is moved along a line parallel to the diagonal axis B--B', and in the direction of B, the bristle tufts 4 in row 16 will gouge or lift the material being brushed and the bristle tufts 4- in row 17 will sweep or push down the material being brushed. If the brush 10 is moved along this line in the direction of B, the bristle tufts 4 in row 17 will sweep or gouge or lift the material being brushed and the bristle tufts 4 in row 16 will sweep or push down the material being brushed.

Thus, upon operating the brush 18 in the direction of one of the diagonal axes will cause certain bristle tufts 4 to gouge or lift the material being brushed, while the adjacent bristle tufts sweep the material being brushed.

The gouging or lifting action of certain bristle tufts 4 of the brush 10 have an action of such nature that the pressure necessary for brushing a surface is greatly lessened, thereby reducing the tendency toward crinkling and deforming of the bristles. This reduced pressure on the bristles also has the desirable result of greatly lengthening the life of the bristles and the brush it).

The gouging or lifting action of certain bristle tufts 4 has no damaging effect on the material being brushed due to the fact that adjacent bristle tufts 4 have a counter action of sweeping or pushing down the material lifted.

It is to be particularly noted that the bristle tufts 4 can be arranged at an acute angle to the body 13 of the brush 10 irrespective of the shape and/or contour of the surface thereof. It is also to be noted that the base 13 of the brush 10 can be formed of wood, plastic or metal, while the bristles forming the bristle tufts 4 can be formed of nylon, hair, wire or the like.

Referring now to Figs. 4, 5, and 6 of the drawing, there is illustrated the second embodiment of a brush 11 comprising this invention. This embodiment of the brush 11 can be used effectively to clean cables or tubing used for supporting hanging bridges or the like.

This brush 11 consists of two substantially curved sections 36 and 38 which are arranged to be connected together by a hinge adjusting device 12. Each curved section 36 or 38 has at least two fingers each 32 and 34, respectively, for pivotally connecting one section to the other by a hinge pin 30 which passes through the fingers 32 and 34.

The adjusting device 12 consists of an adjusting screw 28 having a handle 18 at one end for moving the adjusting screw. Suitable block members 50 and 52 are provided on each curved section 36 and 38, respectively, and are attached thereto by screws. These block members 50 and 52 support the adjusting screw 28, as shown. Block member 50 has a cavity 22 provided therein to con tain a collar 20 formed on the adjusting screw 28 near the end of the handle 18. The purpose of this collar 20 is to prevent excessive movement of the screw device.

A cavity 54 is also provided in block 52 for receiving a ball 24 having a threaded hole 26 provided therein for receiving the end of the adjusting screw 28 opposite the handle end thereof.

Rows of bristle tufts 40, arranged as previously described, are mounted in apertures in the curved (cylindrical) surfaces of sections 36 and 38.

By moving the screw 28 in the ball socket 24, the sections 36 and 38, including the bristle tufts, can be moved either toward or away from each other to adjust for the size of the cable, tubing, or railing that is being cleaned. The brush 11 is operated by moving it back and forth and around the curved object being cleaned.

While but two general forms of the invention are shown in the drawing and described in the specification, it is not desired to limit this application for a patent to the particular forms illustrated as it is appreciated that other forms of construction could be made which would use the same principles and come within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A brush arrangement, comprising, structure defining a substantially rectangular planar base, and at least four parallel rows of bristle tufts arranged on said base, each row of bristle tufts consisting of plurality of parallel spaced tufts, said bristle tufts being arranged at acute angles to planes which are parallel to planes which contain the longitudinal and transverse axes of said base and which are also perpendicular to the plane of said base, said rows of bristle tufts also being arranged so that in each grouping of four rows of bristle tufts, the tufts of one outer row of said four rows of bristle tufts being arranged substantially parallel to a diagonal plane perpendicular to said base with the tufts of the adjacent row also being parallel to said diagonal plane but extending in the opposite direction, the other two rows of said four rows of bristle tufts being similarly arranged with respect to a second opposite diagonal plane perpendicular to the base, with the ends of said bristle tufts being located in substantially the same plane, whereby the rows of bristle tufts will alternately gouge and sweep the materail being brushed, irrespective of the direction of movement of said brush arrangement.

2. An arrangement as recited in claim 1, wherein the corresponding bristle tufts in each succeeding odd and even rows of bristle tufts are arranged to cross over each other at substantially the ends of said bristle tufts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 602,193 Neuert Apr. 12, 1898 771,926 Papenfus Oct. 11, 1904 1,407,674 Roepke Feb. 21, 1922 FOREIGN PATENTS 633,556 Germany July 1936 

